Thinking of Quitting Your Job? Here’s How to be Financially Prepared

You’re on Cloud 9 daydreaming of quitting your job, along with other millennials pursuing a life where they work for themselves. Maybe even running their business while they travel the world.

Leveraging the Internet to work online – maybe even WHILE traveling – is something you dream of doing.

But… can you really do it? When? How soon?

Are you financially prepared to quit your job?

And, can you travel the world while you do it?

There are horror stories about people who quit their job with no idea what to do to bring in income. They move abroad and, with no idea how they’ll make money, they run their savings dry.

Don’t be one of those people.

Want to estimate how much you’ll need to last three, six, or twelve months abroad? There are three simple steps you can take to financially prepare to quit your job.

Otherwise, keep reading for steps you need to take to evaluate whether or not you’re ready to quit your job.

But, before we get started… just so you know: I don’t have all the answers.

And, I don’t know everything.

But based on my own journey of financially preparing to quit my job, these are the steps I recommend to start your journey.

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1. Calculate your expenses.

First of all, you need to figure out what expenses you’ll have from month-to-month. If you’ll be traveling as a digital nomad, factor in estimated costs of traveling from place to place, and of course visas.

Here are some expenses you can plan for:

Lodging/Accommodation

Food

Fun (going out, excursions)

Fitness

Business Costs (taxes, monthly business expenses, cell phone, etc.)

Travel (flights & visas)

Transportation (ubers, taxis, scooter rentals, etc.)

Insurance

Other (debt, unexpected costs, etc)

Savings

401k

Even though everything might seem clear-cut, we’re going to go into these expenses for digital nomads a little more in-depth.

Stay in a hotel, and then find an apartment. Alternatively, you can book a hotel for a few nights or a week and then go apartment hunting once you get to your destination. We normally use Booking.com to search for and look for nice hotels in an area.

Volunteer via Workaway in exchange for accommodations. You can also exchange a few hours of your day of work for free accommodations. Workaway partners travelers with people looking for different kinds of help around the world – babysitting, teaching yoga or English, web design, etc. It’s only $32 for an annual membership ($42 if you’re traveling as a couple), and well worth every penny even if you only use it once or twice.

The 3 Fs (Food, Fun, Fitness)

Always leave room in your budget for food, fun, and fitness.

For us, fun things are like booking excursions or tours (like a guided pub crawl or guided mountain tour). When it comes to fitness, maybe a gym membership is important to you, or you want to leave room in your budget to take yoga classes throughout the month.

Business Expenses

Whether or not you’ll be running your own business, budget for any work-related expenses you’ll accrue on the road.

Coworking spaces or coffees at cafes

Books, courses, or even business coaching

Advertising and marketing costs

Taxes (if self-employed, set aside 20-30% for taxes)

Technology upgrades

Think about what you will need to work while you travel.

Travel and Transportation

Whether you’re going to be a digital nomad, or you’re staying in one location, you still need to think about travel and/or transportation costs.

How are you going to get around? (Uber, Lyft, public transportation, vehicle, scooter rental, gas)

What will the monthly cost be?

For us, we have to think about flight costs (if any), the cost of any visa extensions if we want to stay in a country for an extended period of time, the ride to/from the airport, and of course how we’re going to get around every month.

Insurance

If you have insurance through an employer who provides benefits and allows you to work remotely, you can probably skip this step.

Otherwise, you should think about the cost of dental/vision insurance, health insurance, and maybe even travel insurance as you start traveling the world managing your own business.

Other (debt, monthly payments, annual payments, unexpected expenses)

Annual or monthly payments – like car registration, Amazon Prime membership, and those other subscriptions you have

Unexpected expenses – maybe you have to go to the hospital, or you have to buy something while on the road. Always prepare for the unexpected.

It’s just wise to be as prepared as possible, especially financially, if you’re about to pick up and travel the world. Think about the year ahead, and any possible expenses that could come up. By thinking ahead like this, you won’t be surprised and fishing for $100 when it comes time to renew your Amazon Prime subscription.

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Savings & Your 401k

Lastly – it’s so important to continue saving. Skip that coffee if you have to. And even if it’s a small amount, contribute to your 401k.

I saved as much as freaking possible, all the while working on this blog on the side.

After a few months, I had enough money set aside to comfortably quit my job in order to commit to this business full-time.

If you plan to work remotely for a company, that might be enough of a structured environment you need to be productive. But if you’re trying to build a business – being able to work on your side hustle after work proves whether or not you have the work ethic it takes to build a business.

It’s okay to be scared.

Quitting your job to work from your computer goes against everything we’re taught about growing up. Because we’re taught to go to university, start a career, and settle down.

So going against that is scary.

But, it’s okay to be scared and feel afraid. You’re not alone, and you can do this.

Even though I proved to myself I could make money online, as the last day at my job approached, I was scared. But, before the end of my last day, I also landed my first web design client. We’re not where we want to be. But we work hard as heck, every day, towards it.

Success doesn’t come to those patient enough to wait. It comes to those who work hard for it.

Starting a blog for profit is totally and 100% exciting. You create an opportunity to…

http://throughtheirisblog.com Throughtheiris

I love the tweet quote! Thanks for the realistic tips 🙂

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